for one nation to dominate another?Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas knows e ha great ally in Washington DC. Today the leader of the Palestinian Fatah Party urged President Obama to impose a peace deal on the region....“Mr. President (Barack Obama) and members of the American administration, since you believe in this (an independent Palestinian state), it is your duty to take steps toward a solution and to impose this solution,” Abbas said in a speech.

Abbas made the remarks to members of his Fatah party in the West Bank city of Ramallah a day after talks there with Obama’s Middle East envoy. George Mitchell is in the region to try to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“We’ve asked them (the Obama administration) more than once: ‘Impose a solution’,” Abbas said.Screw you, Abbas, you sorry little terrorist. And screw your demands to IMPOSE your wishes on Israel.

First,Barack Obama worked the phones to try to get GOP senators to sign on to his radical amnesty bill. Discussions with Senators Scott Brown (R-MA), Lisa Murkowksi (R-AL), Richard Lugar (R-IN), George Lemieux (R-FL) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) fell flat. Only, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is willing to move forward on the unpopular bill.And then we haveUS Senate RINO Lindsey Graham threatened Team Obama that he would pull his support for their cap-&-tax bill if the democrats proceeded with immigration legislation. What this has to do with cap-&-tax is anyone’s guess. Maybe Lindsey is feeling the heat from the nation’s conservatives who oppose the amnesty and gas tax proposed by the far left?I hope the miserable little bastard is feeling so much heat it's cauterizing his hemorrhoids.

First, Screw Mattel:So let’s get this straight. Mattel buys millions of items from China that violate American product-safety laws and standards. Congress reacts by punishing the entire industry, especially those small businesses that can’t afford independent testing, especially on products that don’t really need it. Thrift stores can’t resell merchandise without testing, making their business model impossible and threatening the charities that rely on those sales. Meanwhile, the economy of scale means that this law gives Mattel a competitive advantage from their own malfeasance — and they get the waiver on independent testing?Along with the brain-dead and/or corrupt fools involved in both the law and the waiver.

Second, Screw GM and their "We paid it back!" lie:Uncle Sam gave GM $49.5 billion last summer in aid to finance its bankruptcy. (If it hadn't, the company, which couldn't raise this kind of money from private lenders, would have been forced into liquidation, its assets sold for scrap.) So when Mr. Whitacre publishes a column with the headline, "The GM Bailout: Paid Back in Full," most ordinary mortals unfamiliar with bailout minutia would assume that he is alluding to the entire $49.5 billion. That, however, is far from the case.

Because a loan of such a huge amount would have been politically controversial, the Obama administration handed GM only $6.7 billion as a pure loan. (It asked for only a 7% interest rate--a very sweet deal considering that GM bonds at that time were trading below junk level.) The vast bulk of the bailout money was transferred to GM through the purchase of 60.8% equity stake in the company--arguably an even worse deal for taxpayers than the loan, given that the equity position requires them to bear the risk of the investment without any guaranteed return. (The Canadian government likewise gave GM $1.4 billion as a pure loan, and another $8.1 billion for an 11.7% equity stake. The U.S. and Canadian government together own 72.5% of the company.)

But when Mr. Whitacre says GM has paid back the bailout money in full, he means not the entire $49.5 billion--the loan and the equity. In fact, he avoids all mention of that figure in his column. He means only the $6.7 billion loan amount.

But wait! Even that's not the full story given that GM, which has not yet broken even, much less turned a profit, can't pay even this puny amount from its own earnings.

So how is it paying it?

As it turns out, the Obama administration put $13.4 billion of the aid money as "working capital" in an escrow account when the company was in bankruptcy. The company is using this escrow money--government money--to pay back the government loan.

This morning I resent to him, summarizing what I knew of this, and asking"Which brings me to the question: the amendment, from what I can find, states "any independent military organization that is neither recognized nor authorized by the Commander in Chief of the Militia for the State of Oklahoma."; how are you going to deal with the 'neither recognized nor authorized' when the unorganized militia is specifically recognized by state law?"and waited.

A while later, the response came:Is there a questionHe either didn't read far enough to get to the question, or over looked it. So I resent,"Sir, the original question is the amendment, from what I can find, states "any independent military organization that is neither recognized nor authorized by the Commander in Chief of the Militia for the State of Oklahoma."; how are you going to deal with the 'neither recognized nor authorized' when the unorganized militia is specifically recognized by state law?

Second question: this news article I found this morning states "Recruiting membership in an unauthorized militia" would be a crime of itself; is the article correct, or is that a misstatement of your amendment? If it's accurate, then a group would not have to be involved in any criminal activity, as your response day before yesterday indicated, in order to be involved in this."And thus far, no answer at all.

I can't find the text of the amendment on the state website, either it's not there as yet or the damn thing is hiding.

in Henry County, GA, is a left-wing BDS suffering clown.I thought about asking a guy who snorted cocaine and got arrested for DUI when he was 30 to come and speak to our kids, but President George W. Bush was not available.That was his response to a parent upset about a rapper with drug convictions coming in to speak to the kids.

Sir, I've found the text of SB2018; reading it, if your amendment simply said something like "Any group identifying itself as a 'militia' but involved in the above activities is a criminal gang" I wouldn't worry. My problem is the beginning of the news story and the release I found on the House website:Legislation proposed by state Rep. Mike Shelton would increase the penalty for individuals involved in unauthorized militias or similar domestic-terror groups.

That does not speak of involvement in criminal activities, it simply says 'penalty for being involved in' AND equates militia and 'domestic terror groups; that's a whole different thing. And it does directly compare militias to terror groups. Which brings me to the question: the amendment, from what I can find, states "any independent military organization that is neither recognized nor authorized by the Commander in Chief of the Militia for the State of Oklahoma."; how are you going to deal with the 'neither recognized nor authorized' when the unorganized militia is specifically recognized by state law?

Here's what I found in OK state law:§44-41. Composition of Militia - Classes.

The Militia of the State of Oklahoma shall be divided into three (3) classes: The National Guard, the Oklahoma State Guard, and the Unorganized Militia.

23. "State military forces" means the National Guard of the state, as defined in Title 32, United States Code, the organized naval militia of the state, and any other military force organized under the Constitution and laws of the state to include the unorganized militia (the state defense force when not in a status subjecting them to exclusive jurisdiction under Chapter 47 of Title 10, United States Code)

So we'll see if he answers me.

I did pass the information along to some other people who've been asking their Reps and Senators about this. When Rep. Shelton insists that if a group is not involved in the criminal activities listed in the Senate bill there's no problem, but his amendment- from what I can find- doesn't actually say that, and directly conflates 'militia' and 'domestic terror group', well, then I think there's a problem. Since I haven't been able to find any text of the full amendment, and Rep. Shelton hasn't provided it, I can only go by what I do have.

Added: FINALLY found this article from this morning on this:Recruiting membership in an unauthorized militia or the Ku Klux Klan would be a crime if legislation approved Thursday by the House of Representatives becomes law.Advertisement

"This is making unauthorized militias illegal,” said Rep. Mike Shelton, the amendment’s author.

Both groups were added in an amendment to Senate Bill 2018, which would increase the penalty for aiding or soliciting gang membership from one year in prison to five years in prison. It also would create a new crime for gang-related offenses as a condition of membership, with the penalty being five years in prison...."Involvement in those types of organizations should be treated no differently than participation in an urban gang.”So, if your group is not 'authorized', joining it,starting it or talking about it to people would make you a criminal as if you were recruiting for the Bloods or Crips. Wonderful.

Like if you've got a digital copier, you might want to know this before you get rid of it: it saves information.

Memo to Mr. Obama: When a man who has been charged with crimes against humanity tells the world that America is in his pocket, it’s time to review your policy.

So South Park had Mohammed as a character, various muslims threatened/advised about it, and Comedy Central did a lot of bleeping-out. So CC will insult Christ, Buddha and everyone else, but tuck tail and cower about the child-molester Mohammed; just friggin' great.

Michelle Malkin has gathered a bunch of stuff that explains why I way what I do about John McCain: for his time in the Navy I give him the respect he damn well earned, but for his actions as a politician I far too often have nothing but contempt and anger.

I remember that Arizona had a recall petition running on this clown before 9/11, and it was going to get a vote on yanking his ass out of that Senate seat; after the attack, it was decided that it would be best not to go through electing a new Senator at such a time and the petition was withdrawn. From what he's done in the time since, they should have gone ahead and tossed him out.

Malkin also notes James Carville, one of the slimiest bastards that every slid around, calling Republicans 'reptiles'. And working to honor the miserable bastard ex-Marine Murtha.

What? Obama lied about talking to Blago about the Senate seat? Wow!More on that at Ace.

Well, Rep. Hoyer, guess what? I don't believe you're sorry, I think you're sorry you said it out loud and people remember it.

are sealed up: he and his little friends don't want us to see it.Given the extraordinary sudden turnabout in US policy toward Israel under the Obama Administration, I have become obsessed by the repressed 2003 videotape of Rashid Khalidi and Barack Obama. That tape — or so we are told — is ensconced in a safe at the Los Angeles Times building. In the current situation, its release by the paper is more important and newsworthy than ever....Interestingly, that sole quote from Wallsten contains an ellipsis in the middle. After the then-state senator says the Khalidis had given him “consistent reminders to me of my own blinds sports and my own biases” comes a strategically placed dot-dot-dot. We don’t know what those blind spots and and biases were and what he might have thought of them. Or how he might have changed. That, in Wellsten’s or some Times editors’ judgement, was best left on the tape.

So what are we to think? We have an administration that not only ascribes most of the Middle East blame to Israel, but also has banned “Islamism” and all related words, even “Islam” and “jihad” from our national security documents. They’re completely gone. Indeed, even the Fort Hood massacre, so clearly inspired by Islamic extremism, has now been shifted into the comfortable category of the lone, angry killer. Rashid Khalidi should be happy. And, in fact, he is.

Sometimes I want to yell and scream. What is wrong with the Los Angeles Times? Are they a news organization or the propaganda wing of some leftover unit of the IWW? No wonder subscribers are deserting them in droves.This kind of crap is why the major media in general is losing customers; they've decided that instead of reporting news, they'll report that they want us to hear, and what they want us to hear is greatly affected by their personal political views.

and here I sit. For now. For I must soon venture out, and clean out the garage. Again. In the meantime,Once upon a time, when I first got online, Sullivan was one of the first bloggers I ran across. It's sad to see what a rabid, vindictive squirrel he's turned into. In general; this fixation he has to Palin is downright creepy.

Anyone who thinks Obama and the National Socialist Democrats is NOT drooling at the idea of a VAT, you haven't been paying attention to them.

So the NSD clowns bitching at the Republicans boils down to "Don't you DARE do what we did!" Well, screw you, socialists; any Stupid Party member who wants to play nice to make Obama and the NSD happy should be removed from office as soon as possible, and they'd better understand we think so.

All kinds of side-effects of the ash cloud. Which is still pumping nicely, by the way.

Our system is really screwed when troops are being charged with crimes over bullshit like this. And every lawyer in uniform involved should be ashamed of himself. If he has any idea of what 'shame' is, at least.

Britain has gone completely to shit. Not only do fools report 'GUN!!!' for a bloody cane, the police- instead of one quietly slipping in and taking a look- just set up an ambush. Guy's lucky they didn't kill him.

So it looks like it was indeed the Norks who sank the ship; and they'll pretty much get away with it. Wonderful.

No, Virginia, the Arctic isn't disappearing; just the brain cells of the Warming alarmists.Indeed, he wanted to see the North Pole while it was still there: "Some scientists have even estimated that the polar ice cap will have entirely melted away by 2014!"

But Antarctica isn't melting away, and Arctic ice has slowly increased since its big low in 1997.

But no one seems to have told Tom, who soon found his extremities freezing.

Two weeks ago he nearly called off his trek after suffering excruciating pain in his fingers and thumbs, forcing him to call in emergency help.RTWT, it's worth it.

and the prosecutor flat suck rocks. THEY raid the wrong home, damn near kill the homeowner they wake out of a sound sleep, and thenAfter spending over a week in intensive care, he was then arrested and charged with aggravated assault, among other charges. He was later convicted of the crime of picking up his gun to protect himself against what he thought was a home invasion robbery and is now looking at serving an 18 year prison sentence.Apparently because, even though they went to the wrong damn place and almost killed an innocent man, he must be punished for trying to defend himself from what he at first thought was a home invasion.

I've been digging around. First off, I e-mailed Rep. Shelton: said that comparing every militia member to fanatics and the KKK was disgusting, and asked the question about 'recognized or authorized militia'. Did get an answer:This bill has to deal with types of Gangs not comparing the KKK to militia groups.Well, in the article he did seem to link them(could be my reading), but this didn't answer the question. So I asked it again:And that does not answer the question that since the unorganized militia is specifically noted in Oklahoma law, how is the "any independent military organization that is neither recognized nor authorized by the Commander in Chief of the Militia for the State of Oklahoma." going to be dealt with?and gotWould these militia's be taking part in gang like activities??? If not it would not apply.

That was kind of unsatisfactory. So I asked him if he could refer me to the full text of the amendment, no response as yet. I asked because all I could find was the news story; hunting for the bill was a pain. Finally found it here; you have to choose the 'basic search', put in 'sb 2018', then click on 'Introduced' at the top for the text.

The bill basically says "If you aid/abet/push to/help someone join/recruit for a criminal gang it's a felony", for the full wording it's section 856, paragraph D. In F there's a full "This is what makes it a criminal gang" list. So far, so good.

Where I get nervous- a bit- is the wording I asked Shelton about: that 'recognized nor authorized by' part. Overall, looks like the story gave me an impression that the amendment was targeting 'unrecognized or unauthorized' militias as being automatically a criminal gang; appears that's not the case. I'm bothered by that clause; if he's said something like 'a criminal gang that calls itself a militia is still a criminal gang' I'd be less bothered. I'll see what he says to my question. Part of the reason still worried by it? Found this leading the story I found here:OKLAHOMA CITY (April 21, 2010) — Legislation proposed by state Rep. Mike Shelton would increase the penalty for individuals involved in unauthorized militias or similar domestic-terror groups.That's a pretty flat statement of a penalty for being involved in a 'unauthorized militia' and states that such is a domestic terrorist group. THAT bothers me a lot.

The Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act bill won approval Tuesday in the State House and is on its way to Governor Brad Henry.

Under the measure introduced by Representative Charles Key of Oklahoma City and Senator Randy Brogdon of Owasso, firearms and ammunition manufactured in the state of Oklahoma would not be subject to any federal regulations.Now we need to see if the Governor will sign it. If not, he's going to be getting some serious questions.

A state lawmaker has proposed an amendment to legislation increasing the penalty for people involved in unauthorized militias or domestic-terror groups.

"There has been a great deal of attention given to increasing the penalties for those involved in gang activity, and while I agree that gangs are terrorizing many communities, they are not the only such threat in our state," said state Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City.

"In Oklahoma we have seen the damage done by militia fanatics and the Ku Klux Klan has a long history of violence and domestic terrorism. Involvement in those types of organizations should be treated no differently than participation in an urban gang," he said.And there you have it: a Democrat says if you call yourself part of the militia you're just like the KKK. And I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you that McVeigh was a 'militia fanatic', etc., "We have to DO SOMETHING!" and so forth.

I did some digging, and found this on the subject of the militia in Oklahoma state law:§44-41. Composition of Militia - Classes.

The Militia of the State of Oklahoma shall be divided into three (3) classes: The National Guard, the Oklahoma State Guard, and the Unorganized Militia.

23. "State military forces" means the National Guard of the state, as defined in Title 32, United States Code, the organized naval militia of the state, and any other military force organized under the Constitution and laws of the state to include the unorganized militia (the state defense force when not in a status subjecting them to exclusive jurisdiction under Chapter 47 of Title 10, United States Code).Now, as the unorganized militia is specifically recognized in state law, I wonder how Rep. Shelton plans to manage this:Shelton's amendments would extend those penalties to other groups, including the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and "any independent military organization that is neither recognized nor authorized by the Commander in Chief of the Militia for the State of Oklahoma."Since the unorganized militia is specifically recognized in state law, what the HELL is this supposed to do, exactly? It has the feel of something thrown together for the purpose of political advantage, not serious law enforcement. I fear this is so open-ended it could be used to define almost anybody who speaks or acts in a way the Rep. dislikes as a 'unrecognized/unauthorized militia member'.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

there's a chance of rain through Friday. Which really doesn't mean much; this time of year it can go from 'slight chance' to 'downpour', or 'high chance' to 'nope, no rain' in the space of a few hours. Yesterday it went from '30% chance overnight' to 50% to 20%. Makes planning for some jobs a bit difficult.

Weather done, I'd like(not really, but sort of have to, like looking at an accident) to look at the news this morning. Like the wonderful difference President Barack Hussein Cartman Carter Obama has made in our relations with Iran:Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military.

The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future....The report provides the first warning in an official U.S. government report about Iranian paramilitary activities in the Western Hemisphere. It also highlights links between Iran and the anti-U.S. government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been accused of backing Marxist terrorists in Colombia.

Over in Iceland,Scientists fear tremors at the Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano could trigger an even more dangerous eruption at the nearby Katla volcano — creating a worst-case scenario for the airline industry and travelers around the globe.

A Katla eruption would be 10 times stronger and shoot higher and larger plumes of ash into the air than its smaller neighbor, which has already brought European air travel to a standstill for five days and promises severe travel delays for days more.

Ah, our wonderful media; amazing how docile they've become, isn't it? Almost like they just don't want to report on some things...

Speaking of, Theo has some nice shots of the activity, and one shirt that may be NSFW.

Speaking of illegal aliens, Obama & Co. plan to shove an amnesty bill through next month, and hope to shove Cap & Tax through next week. All with the help of that miserable little shit Lindsey Graham. More commonly known as Lindsey Grahamnesty, a sorry RINO bastard who ought to be tarred and feathered.

A fine piece from Victor Hanson, starting withBeware of sudden and apparently reasonable “calls for civility.” That pathetic mantra is usually voiced by a liberal administration and its supporters when criticism mounts that they are taking the country too far to the Left — like the Clinton implosion in 1993 or Obama today. I fear “civility” does not mean one should not write novels or produce movies contemplating murdering George Bush — that’s sort of an understandable agitprop art. “Civility” does not mean the New York Times should not give discounts to run ads in wartime like “General Betray Us.” That’s needed dissidence. Civility does not suggest that a Sen. Durbin, or Sen. Kerry, or Sen. Kennedy not use inflammatory language that compares our own troops or personnel to terrorists, Nazis, Pol Pot, Stalinists, or Saddam Hussein’s torturers; that most certainly in not uncivil. And it was certainly not impolite for Rep. Stark to call President Bush a “liar.”

I have carport repairs to make, and I may hit the range while I'm out getting the stuff to do it with. Assuming I can find the stuff.

the national leadership should all be dragged into the street and flogged.I was one of the first in line to the book signing, and when my turn came I asked Gov. Romney if I could ask him a question. After he told me that this was OK, I posed the following question to him:

“You have stated your intention to spearhead the effort to repeal the ‘worst aspects’ of Obamacare, does this include the repeal of the individual mandate and pre-existing exclusion?”

The Governor’s answer:

“No.”So. Romney has had no problem trashing the 2nd Amendment, thinks the MA version of Obamacare is a great idea andRemember Romney said in an '08 debate

I like mandates. The mandates work.

And he really likes the idea of ordering people to do what he's decided 'is for their own good'. Screw Romney, and screw every moron in the RNC who pushes him.

Sen. Lindsey Graham(RINO Moron) REALLY wants to screw the economy:Next week Lindsey Graham will push the biggest tax on the American public in the nation’s history. Graham, along with fellow progressives John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, are going to push their cap and trade bill in the US Senate. The bill will cause electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket and will bankrupt the coal industry. The state-run media is already pushing the junk science in anticipation of the upcoming debate in the senate.

A good question: we heard lots about the OKC bombing yesterday;How come all the talking heads on TV and the radio all they had to talk about was Waco and Oklahoma City and not a effing one of them mentioned it was the anniversary of the BIRTH OF AMERICA AS A FREE COUNTRY?Probably because so many of the talking heads and pretend reporters really don't like reporting on good things about America in general, let alone the start of our successful rebellion against Britain.

And a bit more on the moral standing of Bill Clinton; this is downright explosive, and Clinton must've blown a gasket when he heard it.

By the way, Mr. Clinton, we know what you did, just as we know what you are:Professor Stone’s report is measured, careful and damning. It is hard to know whether Heymann’s courage in commissioning it was a reason for his subsequent departure from the Justice Department. In the mean time, questions about the performance of the Justice Department are treated by the Clinton administration not as serious allegations of criminal activity, but as little more than a below-the-belt salvo in the culture wars.

I was shocked to read in Stone’s report that the Justice Department had undertaken, and had defended in the press as such, activities which if conducted in wartime would constitute war crimes. Because exposing the children to CS gas was the point of the FBI exercise: no children exposed, no pressure.Lectures on morality and 'watching what we say' we do not need from you, you lying statist bastard.

“The security forces surrounded the hole, and when they got them out they were dead,” Mr. Maliki said at the news conference. Mr. Maliki said computers and letters were found that included communication between the men and Osama bin Laden.Hehehehehe......

Monday, April 19, 2010

ending withThe thing is, Mr. Former President, if I may address you directly, is there are far too may public servants who, as you put it, “do not protect our freedoms, but abuse them.” I document them every day on this site. And so despite your admonition, I will continue to criticize them for it. And when, for example, they out and out murder innocent people in the name of a senseless, wasteful, and fundamentally illiberal policy (a policy, incidentally, that you enthusiastically support, despite your admission that you yourself have broken the country’s drug laws), I’ll go ahead and, to borrow your word, demonize them for it.

And you know what? I won’t feel the slightest tinge of guilt about doing so. Nor will I feel the least bit of responsibility for acts of anti-government violence, past or future, even when they’re committed in the name of one or more ideas I might otherwise endorse.

Because fundamentally and categorically, I repudiate the use of force and violence to impose my beliefs, political philosophy, or policy preferences on other people. Until you can say the same thing, Mr. Former President (and we both know you can’t), you can spare me your goddamned lecture.

it's good enough for me.A search of the Nexis database shows four recent examples of Heilemann using "regime" to refer not to tyrannies but to American domestic politics. He even used the phrase "Obama regime." For the record:

In the January 19, 2009 issue of New York, Heilemann wrote that Barack Obama had no particular expertise in economics, "So it's ironic, to say the least, that the first defining moment of the Obama regime happens to revolve around matters macroeconomic -- dealing not just with a nasty and potentially prolonged downturn, but with a wrenching, epochal crisis of capitalism on a global scale."

In the January 5, 2009 issue of New York, Heilemann wrote of "the power troika of Bob Gates, Jim Jones, and Hillary Clinton, each of whom plausibly could have filled the very same jobs in a John McCain regime."

is their actions in the Hatfill investigation:"I learned a couple things," Hatfill told "Today" host Matt Lauer this morning. "The government can do to you whatever they want. They can break the laws, federal laws, as they see fit. ... You can't turn laws on and off as you deem fit.

"I used to be somebody that trusted the government. Now I really don't trust anything," said Hatfill, who had worked at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Md....Hatfill sued the Justice Department for besmirching his reputation and harming his livelihood by leaking damaging information about the investigation to the press. In June 2008, the government settled out of court and agreed to pay him $5.8 million. A month later, scientist Bruce Ivins, 62, who the government says was the real culprit, committed suicide. Ivins was about to be indicted in the anthrax murders.

Hatfill told the "Today" show this morning that in 2002, he signed a consent form to let the FBI search his home. Officials told him they would be discreet in their search.

"I walked out into the parking lot and there were already news cameras filming me," Hatfill said, adding that the operation had turned into a big "show."This isn't the only time(by far) the EffingBI screwed someone's life over; the fact that they keep doing crap like this doesn't really give anyone much reason for confidence in them.

A woman has been denied an operation on the NHS after paying for a private consultation to deal with her severe back pain.

Jenny Whitehead, a breast cancer survivor, paid £250 for an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon after being told she would have to wait five months to see him on the NHS. He told her he would add her to his NHS waiting list for surgery.

She was barred from the list, however, and sent back to her GP. She must now find at least £10,000 for private surgery, or wait until the autumn for the NHS operation to remove a cyst on her spine.

would like to see here: shorting the military on gear because they'd rather spend it buying votes.The Sunday Telegraph has been told that a £400,000 "contingency fund", financed by private donors, was used to purchase body armour for members of 21 SAS, one of the service's two territorial regiments, prior to their deployment to Helmand in 2008.

Cash from the fund was also used to pay for operational welfare equipment, personal kit and to pay-off the mortgages of two members of 23 SAS killed in southern Afghanistan in an earlier deployment....The 21 SAS fund was created prior to the regiment's deployment to Afghanistan in 2008 and was supposed to be used to help families of soldiers who were either killed or wounded on operations.

But after the regiment was mobilised in the spring of 2008, commanders feared the unit did not have access to enough equipment or body armour to properly prepare the SAS troops for their six month tour.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that those individuals who contributed to the fund were asked and agreed to allow some of the money to be used to buy body armour, training and operational welfare equipment, such as computers and satellite telephones.

Sources have said that the kit issue became crucial after Lance Corporal Richard Larkin and Trooper Paul Stout, both members of 23 SAS, also a territorial regiment, were killed along with Corporal Sean Reeve, from the Royal Signals, and Corporal Sarah Bryant, of the Intelligence Corps, when their Snatch Land Rover was blown up by an improvised explosive device in June 2008.

let's take a look around.Only 22 percent of all Americans surveyed say they trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time -- among the lowest measures in half a century - according to a new Pew Research Center survey released tonight.

The results point to "a perfect storm'' of public unrest, Pew reports -- "a dismal economy, an unhappy public, (a) bitter, partisan-based backlash and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.

"Growing numbers of people want the power of government curtailed,'' Pew reports of a mid-March survey that has found "less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation's problems - including more government control over the economy - than there was when Barack Obama first took office......At the same time, a growing minority of the public also has come to view the federal government as a major threat to their personal freedom - 30 percent express that view, up from 18 percent in a 2003 ABC News/Washington Post survey.I'd argue that that 'when Barack Obama first took office line' is greatly overstating; a lot of people still had themselves fooled that Obama was what they wanted, vs. what he is.

As reported by the LA Times, a neo-nazi rally Saturday in Los Angeles drew a whopping 40 white supremacists and several hundred counter-protesters:...Outside of the local media and a handful of blogs, the event received scarce attention. None of the usual suspects bothered to cover or comment on it. Firedoglake and Huffington Post covered it, but we saw none of the hyperventilated commentary and lecturing that is directed at Tea Parties.

How curious. Tea Party events which are not white supremacist events are met with derision and abuse, while a real white supremacist rally is met mostly with silence.

WASHINGTON -- Politically connected staffers in Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department twisted arms to steer a $5.4 million contract for crystal stemware to a tiny interior-design firm without putting it out for bid -- a move that shut out a well-known New York glassmaker, a department whistleblower told The Post.

Two senior State Department contracting officials, Randolph Bennett and Tandra Jones, successfully pushed for the contract to go to a firm run by Denise Mathis-Gardner as a no-bid minority "8(a)" contract, the source said -- an action that one shut-out competitor complained cost taxpayers an extra $1 million....Records show Bennett gave $1,000 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, $2,000 to the Obama Victory Fund and $2,300 to the Democratic National Committee for the inauguration.

According to the source, Bennett and Jones and their superiors steered the contract to SDI even after agency officials and at least one competitor complained it was a taxpayer rip-off.What? A Clinton and staff involved in wrongdoing? Whoda thunk it?

Ref the vile Eric Massa,Heh. I’ve been referring to Congress as being barons and petty-nobility - very, very, very petty nobility - for some time; but it’s nice that other people have noticed. Eleanor Clift (via Instapundit):

It took just three weeks for upstate New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa to resign his seat in Congress after accusations surfaced that he had sexually harassed members of his staff. The long trail of unwanted and often abusive advances that preceded his resignation—and why his alleged behavior went unreported for so long—highlights how much Capitol Hill is a feudal society, with each member the lord of his or her own territory.

If anybody expects me to believe the Democrats didn't know about this, and didn't consider trying to cover it up, you're wasting your time. This is another of those things that feeds into the distrust of Congress. For that matter, so does this:

In years to come – assuming, for the purposes of argument, there are any years to come – scholars will look back at President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit and marvel. For once, the cheap comparisons with 1930s appeasement barely suffice: To be sure, in 1933, the great powers were meeting in Geneva and holding utopian arms-control talks even as Hitler was taking office in Berlin. But it's difficult to imagine Neville Chamberlain in 1938 hosting a conference on the dangers of rearmament, and inviting America, France, Brazil, Liberia and Thailand ...but not even mentioning Germany.

Yet that's what Obama just did: He held a nuclear gabfest in 2010, the biggest meeting of world leaders on American soil since the founding of the United Nations 65 years ago – and Iran wasn't on the agenda.

What's that line, 'you make something pay, you get more of it'?Ontario's newly streamlined human rights watchdog is swamped with allegations of sex, race and disability discrimination, the Star has found.

"We are really overwhelmed by our volume of cases now," said Katherine Laird, the senior official whose job it is to support people who say they are victims. "Our phones are ringing off the hook."

The Ontario Attorney General created a new human rights system nearly two years ago, making it easier for people with claims to get a hearing before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.Yeah, make it easier for people to claim discrimination and act surprised when the number jump. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Clown named Charles Blow, who works for the NYEffn' Times, throws racist and Uncle Tom accusations at tea party people; anybody surprised?

Ok, so E.J. Dionne proves just what a statist prick- or flat moron- he is:

Who are the men and women of the IRS? They are the people who collect the revenue that allows the government to finance our troops who are in harm's way, help our wounded warriors, pay Grandma's Medicare bills, cover the costs of keeping our food and drugs safe, and do so many of the other things the vast majority of us want our government to accomplish.

Yes, if you support our troops, you have to support the work of the Internal Revenue Service.

STFU EJ! I don't have to even believe the IRS should exist and I damn sure don't have to equate a bunch of bureaucrats with our troops. I hold no animus against the many decent IRS workers, but this is just stupid on steroids.Speaking of which,

And last for now, Stormbringer notes this about Eyjafjallajokull:The last eruption in the glacier lasted two years, from 1821 to 1823.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Later, under the heading "How to use extremism as issue against Republicans," Morris told Clinton that "direct accusations" of extremism wouldn't work because the Republicans were not, in fact, extremists. Rather, Morris recommended what he called the "ricochet theory." Clinton would "stimulate national concern over extremism and terror," and then, "when issue is at top of national agenda, suspicion naturally gravitates to Republicans." As that happened, Morris recommended, Clinton would use his executive authority to impose "intrusive" measures against so-called extremist groups. Clinton would explain that such intrusive measures were necessary to prevent future violence, knowing that his actions would, Morris wrote, "provoke outrage by extremist groups who will write their local Republican congressmen." Then, if members of Congress complained, that would "link right-wing of the party to extremist groups." The net effect, Morris concluded, would be "self-inflicted linkage between [GOP] and extremists."

Clinton's proposals -- for example, new limits on firearms and some explosives that were opposed by the National Rifle Association -- had "an underlying political purpose," Morris wrote in 2004 in another book about Clinton, Because He Could. That purpose was "to lead voters to identify the Oklahoma City bombing with the right wing. By making proposals we knew the Republicans would reject…we could label them as soft on terror an imply a connection with the extremism of the fanatics who bombed the Murrah Federal Building."

It was a political strategy crafted while rescue and recovery efforts were still underway in Oklahoma City. And it worked better than Clinton or Morris could have predicted. In the months after the bombing, Clinton regained the upper hand over Republicans, eventually winning battles over issues far removed from the attack. The next year, 1996, he went on to re-election. None of that might have happened had Clinton, along with Morris, not found a way to wring as much political advantage as possible out of the deaths in Oklahoma City. And that is the story you're not hearing in all the anniversary discussions.

Yeah, Bill, I really want to listen to you slander us and lie about us all over again, you miserable little bastard.

at the results?Forget Baghdad. Or Beirut. Detroit, baby. Detroit. That would be the liberal Utopia of Detroit. CNN made the determination based on factors such as internal stability and effectiveness of law enforcement, as well as official crime statistics and media reports. The top 10 most dangerous cities were listed in 'no particular order' by CNN via The Macomb Daily:

Detroit

Baghdad, Iraq

Beirut, Lebabon

Caracus, Venezuela

Karachi, Pakistan

New Orleans

Juarez, Mexico

Cape Town, South Africa

Moscow, Russia

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Part of the scoring was based on Forbes ranking Detroit as the most dangerous city in the nation in 2009, something I posted on one year ago (Shock! Detroit Ranked Most Dangerous City). From that prior post, one of the reasons Detroit was ranked so high was its crime rate: 1,220 violent crimes per 100,000, a number Forbes described as "staggering." Not mentioned in this article or most of the above is just who runs Detroit. (Hint: the party with an ass as a mascot)

A Harford County man now faces up to five years in prison after he recorded a bizarre traffic stop last month in Harford County.

Anthony Graber was riding his motorcycle with a camera attached to his helmet recording his ride.

It happened near the Riverside exit of I-95. A Maryland State trooper in an unmarked car pulled over Graber for speeding. The trooper is seen in a YouTube video that Graber posted, jumping out of the car and tells Graber "Get off the motorcycle, get off the motorcycle! Get off the motor cycle, State Police."

The trooper is seen pulling his gun immediately after getting out of the unmarked car. It's not until five seconds after he exits the car that he identifies himself a Maryland State trooper.So what we've basically got is the Maryland State Stasi wannabes threatening a man with prison for daring to post video of a really bad piece of 'law enforcement'(got to protect the trooper no matter what, right? Greg Shipley, you're an asshole and a sorry lawman)

I ask you, if some guy cut you off, jumped out of a car in plain clothes- no uniform, badge, nothing- and draws a gun, what would your reaction be? A lot of places dumbass would have tire tracks across him; he'd also be asking for a citizen with a gun to draw on him. And for a friggin' speeding ticket?

Few years back I heard of several cases of people traveling through Maryland and Massachusetts being pulled over apparently because of their Texas or Oklahoma tags and being given a routine of "Where's the guns? You assholes from ( ) ALWAYS have a gun, so WHERE IS IT?!" At the time I thought might be a bit exaggerated, but it appears more and more that it was plain truth. So make Maryland a place where I'll only go if I'm being paid, and then for only as long as necessary.

and demand an answer:“If we are talking about coexistence and peace, why the [Palestinian] insistence that the territory they receive be ethnically cleansed of Jews? Why do those areas have to be Judenrein? Don’t Arabs live here, in the Negev and the Galilee? Why isn’t that part of our public discussion? Why doesn’t that scream to the heavens?”

followed byAs Jonathan Tobin points out, the official goal of the Middle East "peace process" is a "two-state solution", in one of which Muslims live alongside Jews and have voting rights and representation in the legislature, while in the other there are no Jews at all and, as in "moderate" Jordan, to sell your house to a Jew is a crime punishable by death. There goes the neighborhood, right? When the western campus left holds its annual "Israeli Apartheid Week", presumably it's in philosophical support of the notion that you don't need to run an "apartheid" system if you just get rid of everyone who's not like you.

she said there was a heavy police presence in the tourist areas; looks like that's not the comforting thing you might think:New Orleans, Louisiana police initially dismissed the savage attack on GOP official Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend Joe Brown in the French Quarter. They reported it as a medical call and did not even interview the couple about the brutal beating until Monday.NOLA.com reported:

When news of last weekend’s assault of Republican campaign fundraiser Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend broke on Monday, police logs detailing crimes and complaints reported in the French Quarter that night did not list the attack on the pair.

That’s because the April 9 incident was first labeled a medical call, which meant no police report needed to be written. Indeed, according to the initial report released Friday by New Orleans police, it wasn’t until Monday that a detective was assigned to investigate the incident — in which Bautsch broke her leg and her boyfriend, Joseph Brown, broke his jaw.

Monday was also the day news reports and blogs began chattering about the attack, sometimes laden with the juicy possibility the attackers were anti-Republican protesters....But the sequence of the NOPD’s response to an attack that left Bautsch with a broken leg and Brown with a fractured jaw and nose, raises questions about why the department didn’t deal with the incident as an assault from the get-go. Subsequent police statements and reports about the incident note that officers did respond to the scene, calling an ambulance to take Bautsch and Brown to the hospital.

NOPD spokesman Bob Young said the explanation is simple: The responding officer didn’t know the extent of the couple’s injuries. That officer knew the couple needed help and was told that Brown had been in a fight, but concentrated on getting them medical assistance, he said.

If the officer had known how badly they were hurt, the case would have been reclassified immediately as some kind of battery, Young said.Let's see, this is how police respond to an attack, the New Orleans city government is still screwing people around when they try to get their guns back*... I don't think I want to give that city any of my money, so I don't think I'll be going.

*Assistant City Attorney Victor L. Papai, you suck. You're a disgusting piece of work who should not even be a lawyer, let alone in a position of power over other people.Holliday then sent Guidos a copy of the letter that Papai claimed to have sent her, dated Oct. 24, 2008 – supposedly written to her three weeks before she turned in her claims.

And from the story it appears the U.S. Marshals who were in NO were just as bad as NOPD and a bunch of other clowns- like the California Highway Patrolmen who beat up women- about stealing private property under the guise of 'enforcing the law'.

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.